The Commitment
Tag Archives: Commitment
This is such a unique and crazy time in our world that I can’t help but think people are searching. Even though I have a relationship with God I often find myself searching around for the answers when I know the process to get them.
I am reading a great book right now called “Woman Up,” by Lori Champion. Every Wednesday at my sisterhood church group we discuss the book. Every chapter in this book talks about how to increase your abilities as a leader in whatever your circle of influence is. It has been very inspiring and uplifting; a must read. It got me thinking that since we are under attack by the enemy (not just with this pandemic but in everyday life), isn’t it a great time for all of us to “faith up?” Not to steal Lori Champions titles to her chapters (I use that term because it goes along with her theme of moving up in each area of influence), but if we could increase our faith during a true test of it; just think of how strong our faith would we be when things go back to normal or “non pandemic” life?
For those of us that know the Bible and have chosen a close relationship with God, we can understand that some of the warnings of the Bible are currently happening and will continue to happen. What about people that aren’t in relationship with God? How are they managing? Are they thinking about faith? Do they know how to access faith? Is there someone in their life that can point them in the right direction? These are all questions that are going through my mind. I think as humans we all ask questions about God even if we don’t even realize that we are talking to him. God is always present and He always answers when He feels that we are ready for the answers. As much as I feel strong in my faith and close to God I often remember that their is an enemy who is out to destroy and sometimes appears to be successful at it. It has caused me to “faith up.” Now more then every I need to commit and be strong in my own faith showing my family and those around me that their is a God who wins.
I also remember that God can’t win if we are not on his side. So as hard as this time is, it is also the perfect time to choose God. It doesn’t require perfection or being completely whole as a person, but it simply requires a decision. If we wait to find God when those things are in line, what will happen as the days and years go by? God has never asked us to be perfect because he knows that we will fail. He does ask us to be obedient and I find that the closer I stay to Him the easier that becomes. Why would I want the enemy to win over my life? Why would I let him? I certainly don’t want to but sometimes he is taking over and we simply don’t know because we haven’t accelerated our own faith. Inviting God means we are asking to be a part of his kingdom. With that comes not only a personal plan for our lives to improve, but also a layer of protection from the things of this world. That is more important now then ever before.
Let’s all try to take some time and breath, pray, and faith up.
As I reflect on the first chapter of the summer series I remind myself that surrendering doesn’t have an ending point. I think back to when I first entered into my own commitment and I thought “well, that was easy, now I just have to wait and see what God is going to do.” It took me a while to realize that every day is new and I would have to continue surrendering in order to stay in my own commitment. This seemed difficult early on. I got very discouraged because I have to admit that I thought it would be so easy. As I continued to progress in my faith I learned that God never said it would be easy.
What does easy really mean? I kept asking myself that question and what it really came down to was that I had to do the work. I had to take the steps to stay in my faith and keep the plan that God had for my life activated by putting him first everyday. God never gets to a point in our plan where we reach the finale. The plan is always at work and continuing to evolve as we evolve into better human beings who represent the kingdom here on earth. Once I trusted God more and grew in my faith it was much easier to surrender the big plans daily. As we lead into talking about the next steps we will discover in Chapter 2 how to continue on in this process.
“In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly.”
Psalm 5:3
Yes mornings are busy, yes I have kids, and yes sometimes I forget too. Just like a good friendship it is quality not quantity. God enjoys hearing from us when we take a moment to get into the Holy Spirit. It doesn’t have to be long we just need to be present so that God will hear us and answer us…..
After the surrender, I knew that things would change. When I finally decided to give God a chance at directing my life, and overwhelming sense of peace and relief came over me. It was exciting to know that God would be at work in my life and begin blessing me with things that at the time, I had only dreamed of. My new excitement for this new life turned into many efforts to plug in to God. I began going to church regularly, volunteering, and changing my focus from things of the world to things that I hoped God would give me. I wanted love and stability eventually with a husband and family of my own. As a broken person without God, those things seemed so far away. Sometimes they seemed truly impossible. As I began sorting through my feelings I had to make the transition from all these negative feelings that I had to beginning to realize that I too was worthy of a great life.
This was not easy. I began to put all my hope and trust in him. I will admit that I was scared wondering if God would really remember me and begin to give me the blessings and life that I really wanted. Slowly as I continued to grow deeper in my faith, small blessings and answered prayers began to come. I began to make new friends that would be life long and have success with work and financial stability. Most importantly living life with God meant tremendous growth in my prayer life. As I began to pray and read the bible I began to find answers to many of the questions that I had about life. It was comforting; and the deeper I grew in my commitment the more that God continued to show up in my life.
I often remember encountering people that would express how nice it was the I had found God since they had never had success finding him for themselves. It helped me to understand that life in the commitment meant that I had to stay faithful. As I began to love God and reflect on the past, there were moments when I realized that He was always there for me. I remember feeling his presence as a little girl just not knowing what it was at the time. In the commitment there are little moments in time when He confirms that he is there and listening. Blessings came and challenges were easier since I knew what direction I needed to channel those challenges in. I needed to stop looking to cure my pain with the things of the world, and start letting God work on my heart. Months and years went by in the commitment where there were big changes, and then there were things that seemed to remain unchanged. As I experienced both short changes and prayers still needing to be answered, I began to understand God’s timing in the commitment. I never knew when the right time would be for answered prayers, but I sure began to understand that God had a specific plan with the perfect orchestration of events that would be available when He was ready. It wasn’t always easy. The distractions and the false impressions that others were giving about how great their life was sometimes got in the way of my waiting. But one thing remained permanent. The voice of the Holy Spirit continued to confirm to me that as long as I stayed in the commitment, God’s promises would come to pass in my life.
For six years I prayed for a person to spend my life with. It seemed like an eternity. Everyday I would lift up that desire to God and pray that when the time was right, the perfect soul mate would show up in my life. I waited and prayed, and waited and prayed. The commitment taught me to be patient no matter what the cost. If I was connected to God and had a real intention to seek him daily, then he would keep his promises to me. Then one day, it happened. God’s promise came to pass and finally a prayer had been answered. Confirmation that the commitment was real and always in the works was an overwhelming sense of gratitude that I will never be able to put into words. During life in the commitment one of my favorite verses comes to mind:
Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her. Luke 1:45
To find out more listen to the radio interview about the commitment; follow the link below.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/oddomi9keizbt5p/AuthorTalk-341543_1.mp3?dl=0
As we continue our journey with God, he uses certain people and resources to connect with us and speak into our lives. Just like he has his “tools” of communication, we have ours for him as well. Our biggest tool is prayer. When I first began my journey I used to worry if I would know what the right prayers would be for my life. As I continue my journey I realize that prayer is somewhat situational and changes as we grow into a deeper relationship with God.
A hard lesson I had to learn was that there is a difference between praying and begging. Praying means that we talk to God and make our desires known by letting everything go and communicating with him as much as we can. Begging means that we demand and attempt to put stipulations on our conversations with God. Sometimes praying means that we have to let go of whatever we are holding onto in order to gain what God has in store for us.
Begging does not speed up the plan that God has for us. Praying gives us many opportunities to grow closer and as God speaks back into our lives, we gain an understanding of the calling that he has for us. Without prayer, it is hard to stay connected and into the commitment that we start with God. Take time to pray and take extra time to pray with others. I promise, because I know, that God will show up and deliver whatever he has in store for you.
“For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”
Matthew 18:20